Persephone's Confessions
by insomniaddict24601
Summary: Many people think that Persephone hates her stepson, Nico. But hate is a strong word...and it's nothing that a little fluffy heart-to-heart won't fix.


**Persephone's POV:**

I sighed as I shut my bedroom door behind me. My mother had been pestering me the entire evening. Demeter wanted me to confront my husband, Hades, about my feelings towards m stepson, Nico.

Earlier, I had confessed to my mother that Hades paid too much attention to him. In retrospect, that hadn't been such a brilliant idea. My mother was all about confrontations. She was never afraid to speak her mind, although it got her into trouble often.

Whenever that wretched boy opened his mouth, it was always about that woman. Maria Di Angelo.

Hades had an affair with her before WWII and they had two children. His daughter, Bianca Di Angelo, had fallen at the hand of Talos while on a quest, but Nico was living with them in her husband's palace. I had long since gotten over my husband's many affairs, but every time her name came up it felt like my heart was being wrenched from my chest. Although I had married him against her will, I loved Hades, and the thought that he had felt the same love for a mortal woman made me hesitate to leave his palace when I was allowed to, delaying the coming of spring.

And now, he was paying less and less attention to me and more and more attention to his son, Nico, the aspiring hero. I was being left in the lifeless shadows of his realm. I knew I shouldn't have felt this way, but I had actually felt relieved when Zeus killed Maria Di Angelo. I had been acting as if I didn't notice while he left me to spend time with his mortal family, but when I realized they were gone for good, I silently rejoiced, thinking of all the free time he would have to spend with me.

I really didn't blame my mother for pestering me. Demeter could only spend time with me during the springtime when I roamed the earth. She had to talk to me via Iris Message the remainder of the year. I tried to only tell my mother the good things, but Demeter had a way of knowing exactly what I was thinking. I guess all mothers do. And she had a right to be concerned. Her daughter's marriage was falling apart. I was really lucky to have a mother that cared so much, let alone a mother at all.

**Nico's POV:**

I sighed as I shut my bedroom door behind me. Persephone had been acting weird all evening. She had said nothing at dinner and I could tell that even my father (as blunt as he is) noticed something was up.

She was getting meaner, lately. Every time my mother's name would come up, she would mumble something. I never could hear what, but I didn't want to know all of the disrespectful things she was saying about my mother. I wonder of souls could haunt goddesses. If so, mom, I found the perfect one. You definitely have some unfinished business with this witch.

Demeter had been getting on her case about something. Maybe she hadn't been eating her cereal. Seriously, that woman was obsessed with that stuff. She had been stuffing it in my face from the second I entered my dad's kingdom. It was annoying, of course, but she only did it because she thought it would be good for us.

Persephone should consider herself lucky. At least she had a mother to look out for her. Since Zeus had killed my mom, and Bianca, my sister, was killed by Talos on a quest, I was basically alone in the world, and when you're a demigod, that's pretty dangerous. Throw in the fact that I'm the son of one of the big three, and you have a recipe for disaster. I needed someone on my life to protect me or comfort me. Persephone had that, but she took it for granted.

I had actually wanted to talk to her about how she had been acting. To be honest, I wasn't really angry at her, just worried. I thought she might want to talk. Gods, I sound like Demeter. Maybe all that cereal and stuff is rubbing off on me. Yikes.

I opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. What was I going to say to her? Why the Hades are you acting so weird? That just doesn't sound right. It's not the best conversation starter. I guess 'Hi, Persephone. How are you doing?' would work. Ok, maybe not.

Before I knew it, I was right outside her door. Crap. What was I going to say? This was really the first time I had talked to my stepmother without my dad in the room. Everything else had been one-word answers, trying to avoid making her hate me more. I reached out to the cold brass door handle and gave it a turn, taking one last deep breath before pushing open the door of my stepmother's bedroom and walking in.

**Persephone's POV:**

I pulled myself out of my thoughts when I heard the door open. I looked up, expecting to see Hades, angered about my hostile attitude at dinner this evening. Imagine my surprise when I saw Nico.

"Ever hear of knocking, Half-blood?" I snapped at him. He winced.

"Sorry, Lady Persephone. I, uh, just wanted to talk to you for a minute. Do, do you mind?" he was so nervous, and he had called me Lady, so I agreed to hear him out with a nod of my head. I was a sucker for flattery. Fatal flaw.

"I couldn't help but notice that you were acting a bit, uh, nervous at dinner, and, well, I wanted to make sure you were all right." he looked at his feet and awaited my reply. I don't know what it was about him, but I felt the need to come clean and tell him the truth. He was my stepson, after all. We really shouldn't be keeping secrets from each other. I motioned for him to pull up a chair. When he was comfortably seated, I proceeded to tell him the truth about everything: how I felt about his mother, Hades, and my jealousy of the new attention he was receiving. I have no idea why I did it, but I didn't regret it at all. It felt good to finally tell him the truth. Honestly, this was the first time I had really talked to him. All of our other conversations had been chalk full of hatred and one word answers. It was like we were connecting for the first time.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize my dad was paying any more attention to me. I guess, now that you mention it, he hasn't threatened me lately." we both laughed at that. Now he was smiling, and so was I, for the first time in years. What I said next shocked both of us.

"Nico, why don't you call me mom? I mean, technically, I am your stepmother." he was looking at his feet again and I backtracked, already worried he would hate me. "I mean, you don't have to. I understand that you might not want to, since because of what happened to your mother, but-"

"Ok." he looked up and he was serious. I smiled at him and if I had any hateful thoughts left, they were gone.

"You should get to bed before Hades catches you." I said. He stood up and walked up. He was about to close the door when he poked his head in.

"Good night, mom."

**Hade's POV:**

I smiled to myself as I watched my son walk back to his room. Who knew the one to melt my wife from her ice cold state would be the very one that caused it.


End file.
